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Completed: Boy’s robe

And here we have the second installment in the “long time coming” series: a robe for the boy.

The day after Christmas, my son asked me for “one of those warm, fuzzy things like you wear, Mama.” He meant my bath robe which I had been lounging around the house in for days. I happily agreed as I already had a pattern in my stash for him that included a robe, New Look A6847.

After I changed out of my own bath robe, we headed straight to the fabric store to pick out some fuzzy, soft material. He had his heart set on purple, his favorite color, but after weighing all his options at the store, he decided on this cream color which he calls light yellow. It’s fuzzy and soft inside and out so it was perfect for making without lining.

Once I got home, I didn’t bother washing it because I was afraid of the fuzz ball it might turn into with raw edges. I just set straight to cutting it out. I laid it out and took three slices into the fabric before my hand was aching and I couldn’t possibly cut out the whole thing.

Years ago when I worked at my husband’s family upholstery shop I often cut the most abominable, thick, stiff fabrics with ease. But then there was a little mishap at home with a giant can of Crisco falling off a high pantry shelf. As I tried to catch it and prevent it from falling on my head, the lid came off and the sharp metal edge sliced right through the muscle of my palm on my cutting hand. Ever since then I haven’t been able to cut like I used to as the muscle strength never fully returned.

So I bowed my head and asked my husband who still works as an upholsterer to cut out the rest of the robe for me. Even he had a little trouble with it and then chastised me when he realized that I had doubled the thickness rather than cutting it flat. Duh. I why didn’t I think of that?

Thankfully it sewed much more easily than it cut. I stitched up most of it on the serger as it has a bit of stretch to it. I stabilized the shoulders for fear that they’d get seriously distorted if I didn’t. All said and done this project was less than 6 hours from the boy’s request to the final product including the trip to the store, cutting, and sewing. He was snuggled up in his new robe that evening. I have to insist that he take it off during day care hours when others are in the house because he wants to wear it over his clothes 24/7. I’ll mark this one down in the success category.

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One thought on “Completed: Boy’s robe”

That is lovely! I quite fancy making myself one after I saw a white one in a local shop and it was all edged in lace…shabby chic style. It was so pretty and VERY expensive! I wondered if it was a nightmare sew…. Never even considered the cutting!!